Honesty is the Best Policy! with Sonic OLD
by RosyHearts
Summary: Honest the Cat has no idea what's she's getting into as she enters the Sonic Universe in her first fanfiction. Immediately upon arrival, she is accepted by only the most unlikely of characters- Shadow the Hedgehog. She joins him in his quest for answers about his past, which he thinks he can get from Dr. Eggman. However, information always comes with a cost.
1. Chapter 1: Wait Just a Supersonic Second

**Author's Note:**  
This is an older story, actually, my first ever story, so keep in mind that this is no longer an accurate representation of my current style and ability. However, if you want to understand any of my later works, you're going to need to read this. Plus, it's just a really great book! :D

Alright! So this first chapter may be a bit finicky, but it will get better once I get used to this whole "all of will see my stories" thing. I used to write stories about Honest the Cat in notebooks or in Word, but this is the first time I've ever shared my stories with anybody other than my little brother whom hardly knows what a "Sonic" is. So sit back, prop up your feet, and enjoy the first chapter of Honesty is the Best Policy! {w/Sonic}!

Honest and Shadow had been called by Doctor Eggman to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds for him.

Shadow felt uneasy about trusting him after what he had done in the past, but he could forgive and

forget with the feeling of an Emerald in his hands again.

"Can I hold it?" Honest asked him.

"Sure. But get your own." Honest frowned.

Eggman's static laced voice came over the radio in Shadow's right hand. "You'll get your own Chaos Emerald eventually. An Emerald has been 'checked out' from Angel Island by Sonic and the gang. It seems they think they're hidden as they trek across the open plains."

"Understood." Shadow hides the walky-talky and the other Chaos Emerald in his spines like him and Sonic tend to do and kept walking.

"The plains... behind Amy's house?" Honest asked.

"I suppose so. You'd think Amy'd be part of that gang, he was talking about," Shadow said.

Shadow saw the procession walking across the field and ducked down amidst the tall grass. Honest copied him.

"We're not going to hurt them, are we?"

"I plan to steal the Emerald and get out of there, but if they attack, I'll fight back. Hopefully I can run away before anything bad happens."

"But Sonic will catch up with you," Honest pointed out.

"With Rouge we could swoop in and snatch it. With you we..." Shadow thought for a second. He observed the sandy dirt underneath the grass. "Alright. You stand back here and throw up clouds of dirt. I'll warp in and snatch the Emerald. Sounds alright?"

"Alright." Honest stood up and threw a cloud of dust over the group. Luckily there was little to no wind to blow the dust and the cloud settled over them.

Sonic coughed and sputtered with the Emerald clenched to his chest. Amy desperately shook her dress, which was the perfect shape to collect dust. Metal connected with skin as Shadow kicked Sonic in the gut so that he'd lose his footing. The gem fell into Shadow's clutches, he disappeared and he used its power to freeze time and get back to Honest. He picked her up, and with a fwash, they were whisked off to Eggman's base.

Dr. Eggman ran excitedly up to them. "Did you get it?"

Shadow grimaced and pulled the Emerald out to show him. It glimmered a bright turquoise blue. Eggman snatched it and patted Shadow's head, making him give him the stink eye. "I knew I could count on you, Shadow!"

"Hey!" Honest exclaimed, butting in. "Where's my pat on the head?"

Eggman grinned. "You'll get your pet when you bring back the next Emerald."

"Where exactly is it?" Shadow asked.

"Not only did Sonic check an Emerald out, but his fox-friend did as well. He's using it to track down the one Shadow has been using for Chaos control."

Eggman turned to a monitor and started punching buttons. An image of Tails's plane appeared. He zoomed in on the gem he had powering it. "He's traveling over the Marble Zone. You need to get there and take it."

"But Doctor," Shadow said. "How will we get in his cockpit?"

Dr. Eggman smiled smugly. "The Emerald will begin to glow once the Tornado passes over yours. He'll land in order to retrieve it. When he sees you with it, he'll be curious as to why you have it. Tell him you need to see the Emerald." He attached a microphone to the inside of Shadow's ear.

Shadow looked over at Honest for only a second before snapping back to attention. "Yes, sir." He grabbed Honest's hand and warped to Marble Hill.

Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald and sat on a tumbled pillar. Honest scrambled to sit beside him. He switched off the microphone in his ear.

"I'm so glad I chose him over Sonic."

"But he's a villain that has no intention of repaying the favor of you working for him."

"He's going to get my memory back!" Shadow exclaimed, offended.

"And how do you expect him to do that?" Honest inquired.

"Didn't you hear his theme song? He's 'got the master plan'."

Honest crossed her arms. "You're not seriously using song lyrics to back up your arguments now, are you?"

Shadow crossed his arms as well, unaffected by her words. He turned his microphone on as soon as Tails's plane came in for a smooth landing near them.

"Hiya, Honest!" He exclaimed, climbing out of the cockpit and landing on his feet. "Hello, Shadow! What are you two doing with a Chaos Emerald?"

"I like to keep one around so that I can use Chaos control when I need to," Shadow lied, even though it was half the truth.

"Tell him you need to see the Emerald," Eggman said in his ear. Normally Shadow would follow his orders without question, but for some reason he was hesitating this time.

He reached up to turn off the microphone, pulled it out of his ear, and threw it to the ground and stepped on it. "Eggman wants to steal your Emerald."

"What?!" Honest shouted suddenly.

Shadow put a finger to her mouth. "It's alright."

Tails sounded shocked as well. "Why don't you want him to have it?"

"You just feel bad about lying to him, don't you?" Honest said, grinning.

Shadow frowned and crossed his arms. "Don't think for one second that I won't hesitate to kill either of you," he retorted.

Honest twiddled her thumbs. "So uh... What are you planning to do now? Eggman will find out and punish us." Honest was trying hard to keep calm after he sabotaged their mission. And by punish, she meant of course that he would roboticize them.

"Tails, can you make a fake Emerald like what you did on the ARK?"

"Woah! You remember that?" Honest exclaimed.

Shadow didn't like being in the spotlight. He was growing red in the face. "Sonic told me about it! Now can we please move on?"

"If we can get back to my garage and make the Emerald before Eggman finds us, we should be okay," Tails says.

Honest takes a look at the plane. "Uh, Tails? There are only two seats and three of us."

Tails shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, guys. We haven't much time."

Shadow grimaced and climbed in. Honest squeezed in beside him and as soon as they were off the ground, Shadow and Honest began fighting over the seat. Eventually they got to Sonic and Tails's house. Sonic came out to greet them. Shadow's fur was messy and Honest's hair was tangled severely. Tails disappeared into the garage and Sonic and them went inside to take turns playing Sonic Colors while they waited.

Suddenly Tails came running through the room with an Emerald the color of the one he had powering his plane in his hand. "I got it!"

Sonic, Shadow, and Honest walked over to meet him. He handed Shadow the Emerald. "Be wary of Eggman's tricks."

Shadow smiled his rare slit of a smile. "Will do."

Shadow turned to Honest and grabbed her wrist. "Let's see if this faker's got what it takes. Chaos control!"

Suddenly they were back in Eggman's base. "That took a while. Run into any trouble?"

Shadow was about to offer an excuse but Honest stepped forward. "That furball was hard to trick, but we pulled through!"

"Yes you sure did. And what did I say before you left? A pat for bringing back the Emerald!" He patted her head and she purred.

Shadow felt left out, but not for long because Honest turned around and gave him a big hug. Not exactly what he wanted.

First chapter over! I'll post the second chapter when I have the chance. See ya! 3


	2. Chapter 2: This is Some Next-Gen Stuff

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Sorry for the cheesy and not at all relevant chapter names, but... next chapter I guess? A lot of stuff happens this time, so hold on to your chairs. Also, Scourge and Rouge are the main villians in this story. Deal with it. (Future Honest: Except it's really only for this chapter)/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest was below him, trying to get some sleep. Shadow yawned and stretched. He then laid a hand on his chest./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Shadow?"/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest snickered. "I wonder what Eggman does when he's alone in his room. What do em style="box-sizing: border-box;"you /emthink he does?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow closed his eyes again. "Heck if I know. Plot how he's to betray us, maybe?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest moved her head so that she could better see him. "Aren't you worried about that?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow's eyes were closed firmly now and he grimaced as he spoke. "No. He knows I'm his most valuable resource."/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Then I-" Shadow thought. "I don't know."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest moved back into place and stared up at the bottom of Shadow's bunk. "Well if you stay, I stay, too. After all, I'm stuck with you."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow sighed. "Good to know."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"-/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"The next morning Shadow made pancakes for the three of them. Honest grabbed a chair and sat beside the tired-looking chef. She poured syrup onto her pancake stack./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""So, did you sleep well?" Honest asked him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow smoothed down the sleep-ruffled fur on his spines and replied, "Sure did. But Eggman's beds were hard as nails."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest gave him a stern look seeing as though the Doctor who owned the beds was sitting at the bar next to them. Shadow huffed. "I'm not lying."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Eggman broke the hostility. "GUN are using a green Chaos Emerald to power some weapon of sorts. I don't know for what they'll use it for, but if it is aimed at us we'll be killing two birds with one stone."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest yawned at the thought of sneaking into a government compound. "This early in the/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"morning?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""If you'd much rather have me disintegrated by a high-powered lazerbeam I'm sure I could arrange your roboticization right away," he said simply, yawning as well soon after./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest gulped. "N-Never mind. I just realized Emerald snatching is my favourite morning activity! Don't you agree, Shadow?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow's eyes were closed as he swallowed his food. He didn't look up. "It's cool."/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest giggled. He actually believed Shadow's story./p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"-/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest and Shadow were standing on the surface of the moon, readying themselves for the task of stealing the Emerald./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow was looking at the Earth below them. "What did I tell you? I get to hold it so that I can use Chaos control."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""It'll only be for a second," Honest pleaded./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow sighed and passed it to her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest focused and the gem floated into the air. Then, in an explosion similar to a splash of red color, the Emerald was drained of Chaos energy and it dropped into the moon dust. Honest too was drained of color. In fact she was-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Invisible?!" Shadow whispered, alarm only showing in his voice and not his actions. You know,/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"because he's so- Okay, I'll stop breaking the fourth wall.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""How come you didn't tell me sooner?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Oh, sorry. Must've forgotten. It happened the day I moved in. Discovering it I mean."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow resumed his calm state of looking down at the Earth. "That will come in handy I suppose."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""I can also become temporarily invincible much like a spin dash or ring," Honest bragged./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Great. Now please don't tell him you can take advantage of the Emerald's power, too. That's the only reason the Doctor keeps me around."/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow "humphed". Honest took it as a "whatever you want to think"./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest yawned before walking over to stand beside him. "Why do you think he keeps me around?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow thought. "For entertainment."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Instead of getting angry like Shadow wanted her to, she laughed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""So are you ready?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"The Chaos energy came back into the Emerald and Honest faded into view. "Yup."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow picked up the Emerald and held Honest's hand. "Chaos control!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"-/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest jumped up and down with excitement as Shadow planned out how it would go./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""So, are we going to go for the classic 'vent' approach, or are we gonna enter through the roof? Oh! Oh! Or are we going to disguise ourselves as scientists studying the Emerald?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow huffed, "Vents are more noisy than you think. The roof would be too risky... Disguising might actually work!"/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"They walked into the building and instantly found out about one of many flaws to their plan-/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow stiffened up beside her. "Oh yeah. Maybe no one will notice...?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"He stiffly walked into the crowd. Honest clenched his arm in fear of being caught./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow was too busy with Honest to notice the man he had just walked into. Paper flew everywhere./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Oh, uh, sorry, sir. Uh, let me help you-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""No worries, I got it covered!" The man picked up the paper in his arms. He stood up and straightened his glasses. He turned to leave. "Oh, and um," he sprayed through his braces. "Rockin' those hoods."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow turned to Honest and light illuminated his face as he fought back laughter. Honest gave a week smile in return, still holding fast to Shadow's arm./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"They shimmied into the elevator, having difficulty getting around in those hideously baggy human clothes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"When they finally got to the door, they realized yet another mistake they had made./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""What?! We need a key card to get in?!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest took one more look at the card scanner on the wall beside the door. "Yup. Unless you can think of any other way of getting in."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow only needed to tap his chin once to know what he had to do./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"BLAM!/em Shadow blew at the tip of the gun he had seemingly pulled out of nowhere./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""What? Amy can pull her hammer out of nowhere. How come I can't pull my SMG out of nowhere, too?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"The lock on the door fell away and Shadow pushed the door away to see.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"The Emerald was missing./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow searched the room for an answer. A hole had opened up in the ceiling and a particular bat lady flew through with the green Emerald in tow./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Sorry, Shadow, but you're gonna have to be super Sonic fast to catch up with me!" She left in the matter of seconds./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Well, so much for that." Shadow turned to leave./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""I knew we should've went through the roof..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"This time the duo returned empty-handed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Where's the Emerald?" Eggman demanded as soon as they came skulking up to him. Shadow's version of skulking was crossing his arms and giving the floor a dirty look, but Honest was full on knuckle-dragging./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""We didn't get it. Rouge took it before we had a chance to-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Then get it back!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and turned away. Honest bowed her head and played with her hands./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"How could Honest and Shadow show their faces around her and Scourge again?/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Doctor Eggman was alarmed by their sudden change in expression. "Is there something wrong with that order...?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow opened his eyes. "No, sir. We'll go right away." Honest looked up just as Shadow took her hand and led her away. But instead of warping to their destination, Shadow pulled her into their room and shut the door./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""I knew it would come to this!" He spat crossly. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest put on a sad puppy face and let her arms hang uselessly. "I can't see Scourge again! And you can't see Rouge again! Don't you remember what she did to you?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"I/em was mean to em style="box-sizing: border-box;"her/em, but that's besides the point." Shadow held her hands and managed to turn the sides of his mouth up if only a bit./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Look," he said, peering into her eyes. "Before you came along, Rouge and I were pro's at handling the Doctor's crazy behavior. Rouge had her tricks, and I- I kept silent. I think you should try the same tactics. Just- I know that you're not one to be stolid all the time, so how about this. Do what he says, and just em style="box-sizing: border-box;"try/em to control yourself."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest just nodded and grabbed him in a hug. "O-Okay. I'll go with you to get the Emerald back easily and with no distractions."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow pulled the Emerald out of his spines and shouted "Chaos-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"In a flash of light they were now standing on Scourge's front porch. "Control!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Scourge must've heard him shout and went to open the door. He looked surprised to see them./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"He laughed, "Nice to see you again, Shadow. You two getting along?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow lurched forward and grabbed his neck. "We're not here to play around. Where's the Chaos Emerald?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest stood behind him with her arms crossed, sending him a look that told him they meant/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"business./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Wh-What-? I, but, I-?" Rouge walked up behind him in the doorway. "Okay, okay, let him go and you can have it."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow huffed and let him go. He fell to the ground with a thump, and both Shadow and Honest looked on with interest as Rouge slowly pulled out the Emerald./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""That is, if you can catch me first." She flew up into the air and disappeared over the roof./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Hmph." Shadow leaped onto the railing, then the roof. Honest took one last look at Scourge lying on the ground before running off to follow Shadow./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"She looked up at the building beside her to see Shadow running after Rouge./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Hey!" Shadow saw her and gave her a Sonic-like grin before tossing her the Chaos Emerald. As soon as it hit her hand, she disappeared./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Rouge ducked into the alleys ahead of him, seeking to lose him in the maze of buildings. Shadow accepted the challenge and ran into the alley. Being shaded from the sun made him hard to distinguish amid the dark lighting./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Eventually Rouge thought she had lost him and hovered in the air, resting. What she didn't know was that Shadow was still behind her, waiting for a chance to spring. He smirked and pulled his SMG out of thin air./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Suddenly Rouge screamed out and fell, plummeting into the alley and scaring Shadow half to death./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest faded into view and dropped down from the clothesline she had been suspended from./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Hey! I had her in my grasp!" Shadow exclaimed, coming out of hiding and putting away his gun./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""You were going to shoot her!" Honest argued./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Unbeknownst to them, Rouge wasn't really unconscious. And since she still had the Emerald, she tried to make off with it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Honest and Shadow heard her wing flaps and turned to look up at her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Haha. I do admit, Honest. You'd make a great spy, but I guess some people would rather work for an eggheaded doctor than a power-yielding official." She started to make her escape when someone on the roof snatched the gem she was carrying. "Wha-?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Scourge leaped down from the roof, pulling Rouge by the wing down with him. "Hm, so you em style="box-sizing: border-box;"are /emgood for something."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"He smiled smugly at Honest and Shadow and juggled the green Chaos Emerald in one hand, while firmly holding Rouge's wing in the other. "Why, must I ask, do you want the Chaos Emerald?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""That's none of your business!" Shadow spat./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""Oh, really?" Scourge asked. "You barged into my home, accused my guest of stealing a Chaos/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Emerald, and ended up right. I think I deserve to know why."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow gritted his teeth as he spoke, "The Doctor sent us to retrieve the Emerald from GUN, but Rouge, ignoring the president's orders to keep the Emerald safe, stole the Emerald to keep it for herself. Thus, us having the Emerald would be the most sensible use of its power."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Scourge thought before saying "alright" and tossing the Emerald to Shadow. "Now leave and don't come back."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow went to join hands with Honest and warp to Eggman's base with two emeralds in tow, but before they could touch, Rouge stopped him, appearing to be starting to cry. "Shadow?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow looked at her, curious as to what she wanted. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;""I'm so sorry if I hurt you in any way. Please forgive me," she said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"Shadow grunted and took Honest's hand. He didn't bother to say the usual and simply teleported away to Eggman's base. Rouge teared up, wishing she knew what he meant by that./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"That's the end of chapter two! Tell me what you thought about it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p 


	3. Chapter 3: Lucky Seven Disturbed

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="b88b4230beb33bcdf4fa75849a4bcca2"Hello! I'm sorry I was slow to update, but here's chapter 3. What would you say if I told you that there aren't seven Chaos Emeralds. There are eight. *braces for freak-out* Read on to find out if I'm just bluffing and if it's just another stupid irrelevant chapter name.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="9efc314b65237d5d646e1b817372afc6"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="9bcb9aa771d9e8ce741f72c30c8f8b20"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /When Shadow and Honest were safe and sound inside Eggman's base again, Honest skipped behind him merrily as Shadow quietly went to give Doctor Eggman the Emerald./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="2642e171f5f32b2b742121151640157a"Shadow peered out a window at the confines of space as he passed. The planet looked so beautiful from his perspective right now, hundreds of miles from its atmosphere. This time looking down on it was different from the many times he saw it while with Maria fifty years ago. Now he knew what it looked like while walking around on it. All the bleak, gray cities slowly dissolving into lush, green forests. It was great to see and experience all the things he said he would, but of course it would've been better with Maria. But he could share the experiences with Honest, couldn't he? Of course she was born there, but the planet was a big place and there was still so much to explore./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d39f5163a590d09b7aee1a9d4f1c4ca3""That was awesome what you did back there!" Honest exclaimed, catching up to him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d51cbee95e0d80e20323b5d81d1efe20""What? Hurting Rouge's feelings?" Shadow snapped./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="0fd31d1b679ec9f12c659824b8cf8dd7"Honest started to look hurt herself. "Oh, I thought that was a Shadow the Hedgehog 2 moment and, uh..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="61833bf6ecc47fd8201af83183f0794a"Shadow sighed. "Sorry, but Rouge and I were partners."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="fd91fc6feb2f8a04c578b4ffed700d07""Alright, we won't talk about it ever again."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="acba1dcd61abc292075e92b8e39bf2d9"Eggman met them halfway, picking up speed as he saw the extra Emerald they had in their possession. "It took you long enough." He lurched forward to grab it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="4ffa9932728203f8f517d1d81a9007e6"He stopped abruptly when Shadow pulled it away./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d14fb3d9a8f06de822992f92c39e0c46""It took us a while because we didn't just simply walk in, take it, and leave; we were involved in a high-speed chase over rooftops and through winding alleyways. It was no simple task. In fact, if it wasn't for Honest's bravery, Rouge would be in a cave somewhere, stroking the Emerald. You're welcome," Shadow grumbled with authority./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="4998e4a018ed46d45664d89ce053a268""Oh, um, good job then... I guess?" Shadow stomped away./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="6b6027f29e1d0a9df31e6ea0cb1811dc""What's wrong with Shadow?" Eggman asked when he was well enough away so that he couldn't hear them./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ec0f4b494fc5fea8d66f346d5d51805e""He's upset about making Rouge cry."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="5ec155a38c4ed1767fd3704eb16ca2b7"Eggman was quiet. Honest frowned. "All this time you thought Shadow was a villain like yourself, didn't you?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="07d30c27f71be5eb65dd911d06ef0af9""Y-Yeah," he forced out./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="bccf9c5aa15a88bad68120bab659719f""Well he's not," Honest hissed. She ran after Shadow./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="37a7e97d3aead65725646969fc7ecd73"She found him sitting on the edge of her bunk, inspecting the two Emeralds in his lap. They glowed red and green when they were both close together./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="95e4ecf58206b9890075c9d738bb2d22"Honest stuck her head through the door. "Shadow?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="b4814e7972e535bb262655559ddb5982"Shadow closed his hands on the Emeralds and shut his eyes. Honest sat down beside him. She had to be careful about this./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="8a655b852db87fbce256401a3d80b9ef""Shadow, I-" Honest was cut off when Shadow suddenly looked away. "I'll do the talking. I'm not a bad person."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ffd70011440696a10a5f08a9a661efc5"Honest frowned. "But I thought you didn't like Rouge. And it wasn't your fault either. I mean, sure you didn't say that you forgave her, but-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="09587b99e0b874cbef085fcdea70211b""Okay, so I make a lot of unconscionable decisions, but I still do have feelings. And although I try my best to hide them, it hurt me when I made Rouge cry." He sighed. "I don't know why you choose to stick around."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="daf2705830b8c4f72322b38dac8bcd7e"Honest gave him a stern look. "I'll tell you why. You said it yourself. You have feelings. Unlike Sonic, who's a faker, or Amy, who refuses to hide her feelings about Sonic."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="cde9ce2b469d0156dbb10fa32c5b9c33"Shadow smiled. He actually smiled. Not a smirk, not a grin: an honest-to-goodness, sweet smile. Honest smiled back. That was easier than she thought./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="fdd24282838dcd6cb2b7588323be0a6e"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="a41153af7122bc30439875718f2b84f8"The next morning Honest woke up a good two to three hours before the usual morning began and in turn had extra time to spare./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d2313f4e87ed54cfcd222b1bd6ab9547"Careful not to disturb Shadow on his top bunk, Honest sat waiting for Shadow to wake up naturally.. When he did, Honest watched him while he put on his gloves and shoes and headed out the door, looking like a tired wreck much like usual. Honest then skipped out to join him and Eggman for breakfast./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="544814eba37ba0d6f29e1a7aefa85873"Honest sat down at the table after grabbing a toaster pastry, which was apparently the only breakfast food Eggman had, and began to eat it. Shadow was sitting next to her with his arms crossed. "So," he said. "Sonic's birthday's coming up and he wants us to come to his party."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="4a4b36ecc00aa2e1942c34e0c5ac437f""That sounds like fun!" Honest said, smiling. Eggman finished his cereal and left as Shadow continued to talk to her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="aa50169fc5a74ef5cf03c2d478453b82""He's having it in Windy Hill he says. But you see, he's kind of going to have it a day early. Tails is going to host a surprise birthday party in the same spot he had picked out."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="fd60a51491953f7ccabfc1ca2dea240b""Then it will be double the fun!" Honest exclaimed, giggling./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ef0bf238d02b31d384707818c56610b3"Shadow smiled worriedly. He didn't exactly like parties; he was only going because Honest wouldn't want to miss out on it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="39bbcb6698004a95296f7dba2eb48a09""And he's now 17, right?" Honest asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="60fe40ff0ea25c024a3c19ec04309ad1""Yeah," Shadow said, sighing. Sonic was 17 now. He thought about Sonic in 20 years, 40 years, 60 years.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="809e9190d268d8428f3c7d863c22724a""Whatcha sighing about?" Honest asked, concerned./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d55adf7151acd0d334c7701a87bac2a2""Oh! Um, I was-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="6b7d26a1a4c7eae75bfc9326e4725410""Thinking about the future, huh?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="3040f16975929f56622d41946233cda5"Shadow raised an eyebrow. "I saw that look in your eyes. Those proud-parent Shadow eyes. Well, not proud-parent, more like time-is-passing by eyes."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="272c86a0550c8421f2cb7dfcee112e54"Shadow coughed and lowered his head. "You saw right through me."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="f780a351c155329903d2e18cc400c037"Honest laughed and hugged him tight. She then pulled away. "Were you thinking about me?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="0a6e102e6a12a6e23e5cef13ad402fb2""What? I mean, of course I was. Not Sonic or anybody..." Shadow began to trail off./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="bba8f425a9ebbeb591e7597cdeae6185"Honest narrowed her eyes. He could've just said, "Of course I wasn't! Why would I ever think of you, you idiot?" She went back to eating her breakfast./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ac9e2090702877812c3c8a4058034be9"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ead85b60989840d15e1c303c7541b35b"Later Shadow and Honest were laying on Honest's bed, talking./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="aa79b0219b042a67a6ef6c8c2f67dde4""So, uh," Shadow was saying. "What are we going to do when the Doctor finds out there are eight Chaos emeralds?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="765129ae023b261ac230058d5c9ffc15"Honest froze. "Oh, um-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="81ed8661a203db42fadf89ae210e1b32""'Cause think about it: He's gonna find out about the emerald being fake eventually and then he'll attack me."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="bf090d8822a4028ddf8aff5176080917""Your house will be waiting for us," Honest pointed out./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="08013ee6370cdf3e8366cb5230a17f02""I left it to the Rats"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="7d0cb14a17d5b4c45ba7f866b7d5f5e3""What?!" Honest rolled over on top of him and held down his arms./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="3e896aef04343dd734e238473c14726a""Woah, there," he said with wide eyes. "Don't get hasty. It might not even happen."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="256ec7271736914fad341078e041619e"Honest ignored his baffled expression and spat in his face, "Don't you ever plan? What of our retreat? Where will we go?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="4dbc05b4ba1fa67116567e09a6d3d5f9""Hey," he said, grabbing hold of her arms. "We'll crash with a friend. No biggie."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="00022bc5791bf0fe5155f608ce0bbc01"Honest ripped away from him and said, "Okay, okay. Just- don't pick someone I won't get along with." 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="b69691ef436640edd75190cbdbf95cb3"Shadow climbed up to his bunk. Honest walked past him to climb into hers. She looked up at the underside of his bed and, although he couldn't see her, raised an eyebrow and said, "I was surprised you didn't punch me."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="72fccbf25d5f1d928d8a4b796339c7c2""I try to tolerate you as much I can," he said in a "brush off" manor./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="7b5d4a292276d765d8f532ea42d1c8d1"Honest smiled contently and pulled the covers up to her chin. "Get to sleep," Shadow pointed out, "because the Doctor might send us on a wild goose chase for the Emerald again in the morning."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="f76e14c7a8458a7b30239137d6a09853""I guess so," Honest said wishfully./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="bc33ed7d3ef285a2121ec66eacabc52b"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="e03e9e53ef7d19107261a0c7fef72a78"The next morning Shadow was nowhere to be found. Honest put breakfast on hold as she went to look for him. She found him looking down at the planet from a window in the long hallway connecting the living quarters and the hangar where Eggman kept his ships and other flying doohickeys./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="5cc6737f895f3bcc52e3a5bd46e06ecb""Shadow?" He turned around to see Honest firmly attached to his arm./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="e0377cb439212cd53a235e54406b1e30""Oh, it's just you," He said, his eyes foggy as if he was remembering something./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="e7deba1ddcf05b4ef4dee20d365f33b4""You thought I was Maria, didn't you?" Honest asked, seemingly reading his mind./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="44d7428da0c3faae12dd6a0bea83623f""No. Of course not," he said, getting angry and turning back around./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="873236e2f6c01fda36a5128454ebdac8""But you did that with Amy," Honest reminded him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="4bfc6ac9dd7398f5b7435410739ba814""When did that happen?" he said, not looking back at her yet./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="00d8687acbb1496768bcb54fd2301eb4""Oh, I didn't expect you to remember that I suppose," Honest said, grinning./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="1350d86ee1160ab4309caaa22c5acd47""You weren't even there. You saw that in SA2, didn't you? You're a sad, little obsessed fan-girl, Honest."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="be0c0facd0630746e8bad077236c61a9"Honest giggled. "Yeah, I know," she said and smiled. (This is totally normal for this story as you'll soon know...[Future Honest: Yes, I can vouch for Past Honest on this])/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="5fc52d71582f6a716cc4b809c80e80c7"Shadow turned around and started towards the kitchen area, holding Honest's hand. "I'm hungry, aren't you? I'll make some pancakes for us."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="3e162001ce7fc54f5b6de8f31d88b3ef"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="3bdf1491d3bb9154e198d5135cecf9bb"Honest and Eggman were sitting at the bar while Shadow blissfully whistled "All Hail Shadow!" while expertly pouring pancake batter into the pan./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="820c82cdb62e9a6558d3f0f11bf7a25b""Shadow sure seems to be in a good mood this morning," Eggman said. He was reading the "Station Square Monthly" and sipping out of a blue coffee mug with the words "#1 Doctor" and a picture of a screwdriver on the side./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="3b502e6af66a00e1580718297720aa70""Yeah, but that pink really suits him." Yes, Shadow was wearing a pink apron with hearts on it, too. (XD) Maybe he was just trying to keep his mind off what happened on the ARK and instead on the matters presently on hand. But Honest had to hand it to him; pink sure looked good on him, especially since it was only a lighter shade of the red stripes on his spikes and limbs./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="95a98d9419f3dde0b337a6a6a433f6d0"When Shadow, Eggman, and Honest finally got to eating their pancakes, Honest asked him, "Why the apron?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="1841ccf88104138a4279cdb2e116046c"Shadow, unchanged, answered simply, "I just didn't wish to get pancake crumbs on me while I was cooking." Of course he would give an excuse./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="5287d623215a96b34937228e5812a3ce"Honest look over at Eggman on her right. "Doctor?" When he had turned to face her, Honest spoke. "Did you locate any more of the Chaos emeralds?" she inquired. When it took a while for him to reply, she added, "There are still four more left to find."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="c2ed62f90392ba69aad37b511627020c"Honest turned to Shadow when he tapped her arm. "What I- she meant to say was five. We have five more Emeralds left to find." He winked at her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="c838cde89d38ed3e7beb8075c8873b65""Oh, yes!" Honest exclaimed, turning back around. "I must have miscounted. Sorry." She grinned cheekily./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="7235d972de0d15fb90c7158928a7bfaf"Eggman put a hand to his chin and Honest began to sweat. "Alright then." Honest's smile began to slowly shrink to something a bit more normal./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ae3b81f3d0a6d5e1b01af75c14494d0b""No, there really isn't anywhere left to check. Maybe with Big... If so I'm sure I could send a fly-bot to his location to scout him out... So no, no new news on that..." Eggman said, deep in thought./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="66fc878fa3c52bc070894661be9e9ec8""Well," Honest sighed, turning to Shadow. "What will we do while we wait?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="e4ff5ebf2da22e8ac52f4ffe6b957a93""Not so fast," Doctor Eggman said. "While I have you here you might as well pay for me letting you stay here while you hunt for my Emeralds."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d1235a4ad459e101a1c38a1ddf3634c1"Shadow looked over at him. "Oh, really? What would you have us do?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="76a1bc6b566a7643f1ed66a52bdf39a9""Why, polish my robots, of course! What else would a mad scientist have someone do for him?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="9ccc1148a2f36595503192f9be79cc18"Shadow stood up and went to get cleaning supplies. "Oh, and you have to do it while wearing girly aprons. There's a lavender apron for Honest where you found that pink one. I kept them for just such an occasion."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="871670ec508a176940b196972c7b825c"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d5d8507bb4269c4572e8905919a61e26"When Honest and Shadow met up in the dark recesses of Eggman's carefully organized robot warehouses to begin polishing them, Honest firmly tied her apron and did a twirl. "How do I look?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="5686280b5076eea7fd6a9dc8455de84c""Just lovely," Shadow said, being sarcastic of course. "Now pick up a sponge, dip it in the polish, and get to work."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="02a984fa5134bec4fd9a8f17a14e31b8"Honest picked a sponge and dipped it in the Ben's Robotics-Safe Polish, then "got to work" as Shadow had said, starting on the Moto Bug, nearest to her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ce02bc412780bf69f070d8b460812bd6"Eventually the warm, moist air carrying the stench of grease, oil, and Ben's Robotics-Safe Polish became just too much and Honest went to find Shadow. They kind of got separated after a while of cleaning old robots./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="8abf59e171dd5fdbf648bd567d69fd00"Honest found Shadow sitting next to a robot, asleep with a spray bottle in his hand and smudges on his apron. Honest knelt beside him and poked his arm. "Hello, Shadow?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="bfc85cf2f93bdd0f2ecf2787bd445f61"Shadow's eyes flew open and he was instantly filled with dread. "Uh, Honest! Just, just resting my eyes!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="987f501df741acc45640326044a00a76"Honest giggled./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="85ea5d07c60acc778f027898373e901d"Shadow grimaced and stood up, brushing off his pink apron and crossing his arms across his chest./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="664efca0f09be09884baba69568df52f"He opened one eye, looking confused. "What did you see?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="a7e3aebd28b450d291d25302f40d1b4c""N-Nothing!" Honest stuttered./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="601d03c0a1df690d455d0113f2ad5156""That's what I thought," he said, turning to return to Eggman./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d0babcf9f59ec4e108b38020fe6392af"Honest followed after worriedly. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Oops./em/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d8d5c59c9f852d6658f52f1a49eab534"When they returned to the doctor, he was busily observing the many monitors hanging about the room, in pursuit of the last four or five emeralds left to find. "We cleaned all your robots, sir," Honest said. Shadow looked at her and rolled his eyes. We all knew what he was thinking... faker./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="7303199f29a7587043d578d85b952448""Good, good, good," he said quickly. He looked back at the two mobians. "Hang those aprons back up and put the cleaning supplies back in the cabinet under the sink."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="42aed628cecaaa912b392a6c7fd8364d"Shadow handed Honest his cleaning supplies and removed the apron from around her neck. Shadow hung up the aprons and Honest bent down to put the sponges and spray bottles away. She sprung up, spun around, and smiled. "Let's go play board games!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="ecc9cbe9f6a31384dee4043dafd8a045"And that's what they did./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="5f4d49bf3e602240e8d71521a3ddaa68"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="d247209278b636ee1a8ee81ec4465202"If you loved this chapter, go ahead and vote! Haha! And there really aren't eight Emeralds! No need for flaming, see? Shout out to SallyAcorn11 for being my first of (hopefully) many followers! (I believe I was talking about Wattpad followers)/p 


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